Havasupi

In June I fell into some reservations to one of my most favorite places in the world - Havasupi. There were reservations for 20 and I did my best to find 20 people to go (if I didn't invite you sorry) but I ended up with just 9 of us hiking the 10 miles down into a canyon with some of the most beautiful water and waterfalls in the world.

Here is our group Leila, Kristen and her daughter, Sydney, Helana and her mom, Bridget, Shalmarie, me, Kristy and her daughter McKelle. Only Bridget had hiked it before and that was when she was 15. So I had a group of inexperienced hikers who were very experienced by the time we got out two days later. We left at about 5:00am and it took us about 4 hours to make it to the bottom, pretty good time when you consider we have 8 and 9 year olds.
One thing that everyone learned quickly was to get out of the way when you could hear the horses coming. They come along pretty fast and they have the right-of-way.

In August of 2008 there was a huge flood that went through the village and the river changed course creating two new waterfalls and eliminating one of my favorites. I hadn't been down in a few years and was anxious to see what it was like since the flood and the changes that had taken place.

Here is our first view of the second of the new falls. The first is just above this one and can be seen from this one but not until you have hiked down further. The new falls don't have 'official' names yet but this one is being called the New Navajo Falls until the counsel decides for sure.

You can see the beautiful color of the water hasn't changed and vegetation is coming back but there are no big trees for shade and it was hot.

The next falls we hit was Havasu Falls and it has changed as well. The huge pool at the bottom of the falls had filled in and you can almost walk up to the waterfall now. Everyone in our group was so impressed and was glad that it looked like the long hike was worth it.

We quickly found a place to put our things down and headed for the water.

Unfortunately, about 1 1/2 hours later the beautiful clear water turned to mud. They were excavating up the river aways to prevent future floods from taking out the cemetery. The rest of the day the river was a mud mess and they were suppose to excavate the next day as well. Who wants to swim in that? I was so upset that the Indians would take our money and not even mention that you wouldn't be able to swim in the water.

After setting up camp, we decided to hike back up to the new falls which were above the area they were excavating. As we hiked back up, we found this great little swimming hole and played around here for awhile.

Then we went back to the falls we had seen on our hike in. They have a large pool at the bottom and are about 35 feet high. They are perfect falls to jump off of.

We watched a few people jump off and then Shalmarie and I decided to jump. Here is Shalmarie taking off.

After playing some more in the pools below this waterfall and jumping off some ledges, we headed back to camp for dinner and some well deserved rest. I think we all went to bed about 8:00.

The next morning we got up early and hiked the 1/2 mile down to Mooney Falls we wanted to see them before the water turned to mud again. It too had changed and the large pool at the base of this fall had filled in as well, but it is still spectacular.

After setting my timer on my camera about a dozen times, I finally got a good picture of us. We are getting soaked right here from the spray of the falls and it is early and a bit chilly. That will change quickly though.

Luckly the water never did turn brown again and we played at Havasu Fall and then later Shalmarie and I decided to hike up to the very first falls that we hadn't really seen. What a good decision that was! From down below you can only see a very small portion of Rock Falls - their temporary name. They are wide and lush, but difficult to get to. You have to do some boulder hopping to get to them.

More of Rock Falls.

Shalmarie in front of part of Rock Falls.

And me in front of Rock Falls.

Again we hit the bed early because we had a long hike out the next day. Bridget and Kristen started an hour earlier than the rest of us because they were worried about how their girls would do. But everyone did great and we made it out in about 4 hours. When the rest of us got to the top, Bridget had cold watermelon waiting for us and that was heaven. We don't look too much different from our pre hike picture but we sure smelled different!

The worst thing was having to wait a couple of hours for the horses to bring up our packs, but we found some shade, ate watermelon and talked. We then headed for the Road Kill restaurant in Seligman and had great hamburgers and fries - our Havasupi hiking tradition.

We had a great time and even though the last mile and a half are hard when you hike out, everyone agreed that all the hiking was well worth it. I'm glad that one of my most favorite places is still beautiful and wonderful and I can't wait to go back again and explore the new waterfalls some more. Next summer!

Garth's birthday and Father's Day

Garth's bithday coincides with hot weather and good deals at resorts in Arizona, so this year I decided to take him for a night at the Scottsdale Princess Resort. Friday night we went to dinner at Tommy Bahama's (we would highly recommend it) but I didn't bring enough money for dinner, so Garth ended up having to pay for his own birthday dinner - not the first time that has happened.
When we checked in I was told we had a view of the lagoon, but we actually had a view of trees and a roof. Oh well, the room was great.

Saturday morning we walked around the 75 acre resort -no we didn't do the whole 75 arcess, but we did take a nice walk. This is the lagoon our room was supposed to look down on. The Princess is where the Phoenix Open is played and unfortunately I didn't get Garth a tee time. I figured he would much rather spend the day with ME right? Besides if I didn't have enough money for dinner the night before, do you think I had money for golf?

We spent the rest of the day swimming and laying by the pool and just being lazy. We decided that we don't need to buy each other gifts any more - a night a way is the best gift.

Sunday was Father's Day so the kids had gifts for Garth to open. He had to sit on our offical family gift opening spot (the fireplace) to do so.

Here is the gift opening audience - look at the excitement in their faces.

Since Dave will be a father this year, he got to open a gift, too. See Raquel's cute little pregnant tummy? Tuesday was Garth actual birthday so we had dinner and he had more gifts to open. He didn't make it to our offical family gift opening spot and just stayed in 'his chair,' is that a sign of old age?

Here is the gift opening audience with the addition of Paul who moved Jason to the floor. The rest are in the exact same places. Did they ever move?

We then sang "Happy Birthday" to Garth while his candles dripped wax onto his lemon supreme pie. He then blew extra hard to blow out those two candles and blew wax all over my granite counter tops, but since it was his birthday I didn't say anything (I thought I'd wait for my blog). If you want to see how old he is just look at the candle numbers. He doesn't look that old does he?

I think this is the 31st birthday that I've celebrated with Garth and I hope we have another 31 to celebrate together. I know there isn't a better husband, friend and partner than Garth to share my life with! Love you!!

What can a 5# block of ice do?

Ever wondered what would happen if you were standing on cement, holding a 5# block of ice waist high and dropped it on your foot? I know you are all shuddering at the thought right now and I don't blame you - I still do the same although I know what will happen and how it will feel now.

A couple of weeks ago Garth and I were preparing to go on a trek with our stake and we had forgotten to fill our coolers with ice. We quickly stopped and bought some ice and proceeded to fill the coolers. Well, my block slipped and landed on my toes! I did a little dance off the porch we were on and I'm still feeling the consequences of that accident.

I was lucky to only break the top of my one toe (when it happened it felt like I'd broken all of them). Below is the nasty picture of it four days later, so don't scroll down if you don't want to see it. We still went on the trek and so I know that you can walk 16 miles on a broken toe. I plan on hiking down and out of Havasupi this week and I'm hoping you can do that on a broken toe as well. I'll let you know.

The Last High School Graduation

May 27, 2010 was quite a memorable day at our house. We started the day with shocking news that Garth's Aunt Judy died and spent most of the day with his Uncle Paul. Judy was a huge part of our lives and we were all stunned. We will miss her terribly

Later in the afternoon we got things ready to have a family dinner for Preston's graduation. Both my parents had come into town for the celebration and luckily it was the nicest weather we'd had at any of our kids graduation.
After dinner Preston quickly opened his graduation gifts before he had to head off to school. He was thrilled with all the cards, money and gifts he received and wanted to check things out especially his new Zune HD, but he didn't have time.

My mom came to her first graduation in Arizona and as I mentioned we had beautiful weather which she was glad of. Lonica and Jason's graduation nights were stifling hot and during Raquel's we had a dust storm roll through, so we happy to end on a pleasant note.

Preston had a graduating class of 775 and 40% of the graduates had a grade point average of 3.5 or higher. It was the highest the school had ever had. Lots of competition in scholarships.

A view of the whole class.

Here is our graduate. He received a scholastic diploma and a seal for having done over 150 volunteer hours throughout high school. He also has the stole for being in NHS.

Raquel armed herself, Dave and Jason with cans of silly string and when we finally found Preston (it took us about 20 minutes) they plastered him!

Over and over again.

Here is the whole proud family.

And the proud parents.

Preston's 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Dillon, found him and gave him a hug.

One last picture of our last high school graduate. We are so proud of him and his hard work. But we are most proud of the young man he has become.

I have had such mixed emotions having my youngest graduate. I'm excited for Preston yet so sad to have this part of my life over with. Preston will be staying here next year and going to the community college before he leaves on his mission next summer, but after having children in school for over 20 years it is so strange to think that it is all over. I will be doing my student teaching in the fall and now I'm the one that will be tied to the school schedule!

Spring Break

Yes, I know that spring break was two months ago and I am just a bit behind in blogging, but ever since I took a long-term sub job teaching 9th graders English for 10 weeks, my life has not been my own!

Prior to loosing my life and freedom, Garth and I went backpacking with our friend, Terry, and his grandkids. Those of you who read my blog, if there are any, will recognize Terry and his grandkids. They are my regular hiking buddies.

We did a hike that I had been wanting to do for years and we were able to luck out and get some of the very limited permits into the Aravipa Wilderness Preserve.
The hike is up a stream that was unusually high this year because of all the rain and snow that we received. So the going was difficult, strenuous and slow. Garth was not happy when he realized that the whole 5 miles would be in the stream going against the current. He took off and left the rest of us behind.

When we did catch up to him, this is what we found! He looks happy doesn't he?

Here are Terry and the grandkids cleaning out their shoes and resting once we found our camping spot. Rocks and gravel were a constant presence in our shoes.

We found a great little camp spot, got set up and a fire going. By the time the sun went down at 7:00 we were all ready for bed. Nothing fills you up and makes you want to sleep more than dehydrated meals!

I love sleeping outdoors and I've never worried about critters until this hike. While we didn't see any wildlife, their footprints were everywhere and all night I was sure something was creeping around me.

The next morning, before heading back, we crossed the stream and hiked up a side canyon. We were rewarded for our effort and saw beautiful pools, waterfalls, rock cavities and formations that were amazing.

Here we are at the top of the first waterfall.

There were deep pools all over in these rock cavities. If it had been warmer and we'd had more time, they would have been great to swim in.

This was such an amazing little canyon and this was just one of the many off shots from Aravipa Canyon. You could spend weeks exploring them all. Terry's grandkids were great and I never heard a complaint from any of them. Carson was my little hiking buddy quite a bit of the time and he is a great kid.

The going back was much easier because we were going with the current, so it didn't take us near as long, but Garth said he was never going hiking again. Too bad, that makes me so sad because there are still so many places I want to go. I guess it will just be Terry and I and the grandkids.